Lobbyists from the National Association of Home Builders and the rest of the crowd that hangs out in Gucci Gulch were working overtime to get this one through: a $15,000 tax credit for all homebuyers. The key word here is "all." No "first-time homebuyer" qualifier at all. (Hey, why not refis, too? John Courson must be slipping. Just kidding.) At press time, it looked as though the tax credit was going to stick, or so says National Mortgage News bureau chief Brian Collins who's been covering the issue for us. Thanks to Republicans in the Senate the $15K language is in the Economic Stimulus bill. The Democrats only wanted $7,500 which might lead some to ponder: I thought liberals were pro-housing? Well, who's more pro-housing now? Huh? For those of you unfamiliar with tax credits that means you can deduct that much from your tax bill to Uncle Sam. It also means that less money will wind up in the U.S. Treasury, which badly needs money. But as long as we're all going down the financial drain together, who cares any more? The full story will be in the Monday, Feb. 9 issue of National Mortgage News. To subscribe to the paper version as well as the website dial 800-221-1809...
By the way, it appears the stimulus bill will NOT include language creating a 4% mortgage. Perhaps, the Mortgage Bankers Association wizened up and told Congress that a 4% mortgage - while it sounds good in concept - would create a refi tsunami that would not only swamp its members but cause prepayment speeds on MBS to go through the roof. When MBS prepay that means markdowns in value. It also means servicing run-off and markdowns in MSRs. Of course with unemployment approaching 8% and home values heading south I'm sure there's plenty of folks who would like to refi but cannot...
Speaking of MBA, the trade group (like everyone else in the world) is contemplating scaling back its workforce. (See the full story on
I continue to hear stories from loan brokers and LOs about all the "adder" fees being heaped on them by the GSEs. Their argument goes like this: the government now owns Fannie and Freddie. The government is trying to turn around the housing market. But the government-owned GSEs keep dinging consumers in the form of fees if they have poor FICO scores and high LTVs. These brokers and LOs believe there's a conspiracy to put them out of business. I don't believe in conspiracies but I figured I'd pass that bit onto readers...
National Mortgage News is continuing to collect 4Q residential lending and servicing surveys. If you would like to participate drop an e-mail to
Bank of America chief Ken Lewis declared this past week: no more TARP money for his depository. I guess $45 billion is enough to handle all the subprime shinola that the bank inherited when it bought Countrywide Home Loans and Merrill Lynch. If you're not sure how the TARP program is supposed to work and why it's the Patriot Act of financial services you may want to read the new book "The $700 Billion Bailout." Visit
It was roughly a year ago that I last heard from Angelo Mozilo, the founder and CEO of Countrywide. His last words to me were these: "I'm not talking anymore." Any information on what Mr. Mozilo is up to these days drop me a line at
Gerard Cassidy, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, is expecting a rebound in bank stocks this year. I talked to him briefly two weeks ago at the Bear & Bull bar in Manhattan. He said he's not sure when depositories will hit bottom but it's going to be soon. He noted that he's been bearish on the sector for the past two years...
Allstate Insurance has stopped writing property and casualty policies on certain homes in Prince George's County, Md. Or so says a homeowner who was turned down by them recently...
MORTGAGE SPORTS BEAT: The CitiBank naming rights deal for the new Mets stadium in Queens is still on. But according to Newsday, Bank of America is talking to the Yankees about a naming rights deal for their new stadium. The price tag on the Yanks deal is $20 million a year. Both Citi and BoA rank among the nation's top five residential lenders and servicers. I still remember the good old days when subprime giant Ameriquest owned every right field fence from California to Long Island. Of course Ameriquest is one of the reasons the world economy melted down...
WASHINGTON NEWS: If consumers are allowed to cram down their mortgage debt using the bankruptcy courts it (in theory) could cause the bankruptcy rate to spike upward. At this point, there is no final bill ready to be signed by President Obama so it's all guesswork. But we do know this: in 2008 bankruptcy filings totaled 1.1 million, a 30% increase from 2007. Credit Suisse, in a new report, estimates filings could climb to 1.4 million this year.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: California's commercial loans are beginning to feel the strain of a weakened economy, according to a new survey conducted by the California Mortgage Bankers Association. California's 4Q 2008 delinquency rate increased to 0.15%, up from 0.08% in the third quarter of 2008, and triple the rate a year ago. In all, 25 loans, out of 10,748 included in the survey, were found to be more than 30 days delinquent. By number, the 25 delinquent loans represent 0.23% of the loans included in the survey. The loans total $141.5 million out of a combined total of over $92 billion.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: President Barack Obama has nominated Ron Sims, County Executive of King County, Wash., to become the deputy secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Jim Miller, a senior default servicing executive at JPMorgan Chase, is now heading all operations within First American's Outsourcing and Technology Solutions business line. Former Freddie Mac EVP Patti Cook was named executive vice president of new business development for GreenTree, a loan servicing company.
MUST ATTEND CONFERENCE: National Mortgage News/SourceMedia's third annual servicing conference. The show will be held April 6 and 7 at the Marriott Dallas/Fort Worth. (Believe it or not, I'm speaking, among others including Larry Litton.) Topics include REO, loss mitigation and much more. For more information call (800) 803-3424.
DATA NOTICE No. 1: Bank of America is doing a nice little business in reverse mortgages. In the third quarter, for example, BoA funded $1.2 billion in reverses, compared to $426 million for the same period a year earlier. For a full ranking of reverse lenders see the Quarterly Data Report. For more information on the QDR contact
DATA NOTICE No. 2: The Mortgage Industry Directory is still available as well as the online version of the book, the eMID. If you need rankings on the top 400 lenders and servicers, loan brokers and much more, this could be your product. Order the MID and receive a free Quarterly Data Report, too. The MID/eMID also provides executive names and telephone numbers, mailing addresses, delinquency info - and news updates (the eMID only). Buy the book and receive a free Quarterly Data Report. For more information e-mail
